Love Means Never Having to Say “I Didn’t Know.”

A friend posted the following video on twitter this morning that I found so profoundly disturbing I decided to blog about it.  Writing the headline proved so challenging, it became the story.

I’m so incredibly flabbergasted by this video, it’s hard to know where to start.  In order to share it here, I needed a title, so I set out to accomplish that, and was deluged by an avalanche of possibilities:

1)  How NOT to pet a dog.

2)  Great way to get your face bit off.

3)  How human behavior leads to the execution of innocent dogs.

4)  Delusion and the art of misreading dog body language.

5)  Comments on a YouTube video that could save your life.

6)  When Rotties “purr” they typically close their eyes, their bodies go soft, and they tend to lean as much of their weight as possible against the nearest human.  They don’t stare at you intently, freeze, or turn their head away from the “affection.”

7)  STRESSED/ANGRY dogs do the opposite of #6.

8 ) When a dog gives you the “whale eye” (look it up) while growling, it’s a good time to stop what you’re doing and FREEZE.

9) The evening news will report that a “Rottweiler snapped and turned on the woman who adopted him 4 months prior for no reason.”

10)  Ignorance can be deadly.

If you’d like to see what a happy, “purring” Rottweiler looks like:

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6 Comments

  1. Posted October 17, 2010 at 7:58 pm | Permalink

    Granted that sometimes, rarely, there can be only very little or subtle warning, people are so oblivious that they just don’t see things if they hit them in the face :-(

    Let’s all get to know our dogs, let’s all get to know what they are saying.

  2. Posted October 17, 2010 at 8:11 pm | Permalink

    Great response. I think you put in to words what many of us have been thinking ever since watching that video.

  3. Posted October 18, 2010 at 2:02 am | Permalink

    I thought for sure i was about to watch the woman get her face bit and scrolled down so I couldn’t see it. I was shocked that it didn’t happen!! Thanks for taking the time to comment.

  4. Posted October 18, 2010 at 6:42 pm | Permalink

    Shocking that didn’t happen, and somewhat unfortunate, in that I fear this video encourages ignorant abuse of a dog’s patience. But of course the dog will be blamed, despite his near saint-like behavior.

  5. Posted October 18, 2010 at 6:43 pm | Permalink

    Thank you for your support and for the feedback, Sandy.

  6. Posted October 18, 2010 at 6:45 pm | Permalink

    “Let’s all get to know our dogs, let’s all get to know what they are saying.” Couldn’t agree more, Jana. Thanks for commenting.

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  1. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jana rade and Erin , Balanced Dogs. Balanced Dogs said: Do dogs "snap?" Do they "turn on" people without warning? http://tinyurl.com/27vdz6s [...]

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